Israel Police spied on dozens of Israeli citizens for years, including journalists, corporate executives, mayors, social activists, directors of government ministries, and former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s relatives and close advisers, Calcalist reported on Monday, in the latest chapter of its éxpose about Israel Police’s use of the NSO’s Pegasus spyware on Israeli citizens.

The report has caused a huge furor in Israel and numerous calls to establish an external commission of inquiry into the allegations.

According to the report, the police used Pegasus spy software to hack into the phones of private citizens, stealing their personal information even in cases where no wrongdoing was suspected and no investigation had been opened – all without court warrants.

The list of targeted citizens includes the mayors of the cities of Netanya, Mevaseret Tzion, Kiryat Ata and Holon, past director-generals of the transportation, finance and justice ministries, as well as leaders and participants of protests by disability rights groups, Ethiopian-Israelis, and opponents of pride parades.

Additionally, the police installed Pegasus spyware on the phones of numerous individuals involved in Netanyahu’s criminal trials, as well as on the phones of Netanyahu’s close advisors Topaz Luk and Yonatan Urich and his son, Avner Netanyahu.

The phones of businessman Rami Levy and the chairman of the workers union at Israel Aerospace Industries, Yair Katz, son of Likud MK Chaim Katz, were also hacked.

Pegasus was also installed on the phones of senior government officials who were suspected of leaking secret documents to journalists. Those targeted include Keren Turner, the director-general of the transportation and finance ministries, both under former Finance Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud); Shai Babad, who was the director-general of the Finance Ministry prior to Turner; and Emi Palmor, the director-general of the Justice Ministry from 2014-2019.

Furthermore, as in every democracy, Israeli citizens maintain the right to protest, a right upheld even during the strict lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Despite that fact, Israel Police acted as if protest leaders and participants were potential criminals, instructing analysts at the cyber-SIGINT to illegally track protesters by installing Pegasus on their phones in order to gather early intelligence in the face of possible threats to public order, including Jews in Yehuda and Shomron prior to the evacuation of settlements.

The police also hacked into the phones of numerous individuals associated with Netanyahu’s criminal cases, even those not suspected of any wrongdoing. For example, since Netanyahu was suspected of an unlawful relationship with Shaul Elovich, the former CEO of Bezeq, police hacked the phone of Dudu Mizrachi, the then-deputy CEO of Bezeq, solely to determine the credibility of his testimony in the case. Several Walla journalists were also targeted to assess the crediblity of their testimony. The information the police illegally gathered was forwarded to investigators without mention of the means used to acquire it.

“Pegasus extracted unlimited information from phones that at times remained in digital format, and at times was printed and filed in a ‘target file,'” the report said. “Entire lives of civilians – private secrets, economic, personal and social information – were exposed to the police – without supervision and oversight.”

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked responded to the report by stating: “If this report is true, it’s an earthquake, acts that befit dark regimes of the previous century… mass intrusion of numerous citizens’ privacy is lawlessness that must be stopped today. An external commission of inquiry is required..the Knesset and the entire public deserve answers, today. I can’t believe this is my country.”

President Issac Herzog said in response: “We must not lose our democracy, our police, and certainly not the public trust in them. This requires a thorough investigation.”

Avner Netanyahu told Army Radio that he was “in shock” over the report. “It apparently doesn’t matter whether or not I’m involved in politics — it will happen to you too.”

In the wake of the report, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai called for the establishment of an external commission of inquiry into the allegations.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)